Denver Restaurant Week (DRW) 2011 was the largest success in the event’s seven year history, according to the event’s sponsor, VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau.

An especially Denver-centric total of 303 restaurants participated in the dining promotion, held February 25 – March 11, 2011. At 303 restaurants, DRW was the largest restaurant week in the nation, based on the participating number or restaurants.

The 303 restaurants represented a seven percent increase over the 282 restaurants in 2010. During Denver Restaurant Week, participating restaurants offered a multi-course meal for the “mile high” fixed price of $52.80 for two, or $26.40 for one.

Based on surveys, a total of 360,480 meals were served during DRW 2011, up seven percent over the 335,580 total meals served in 2010. Website traffic at the DRW site increased a whopping 54 percent in 2011 with 567,243 visits, up from 376,372 visits in 2010. There were more than eight million page views, up 56 percent from 2010.

“The incredible numbers for Denver Restaurant Week 2011 are a testament to the great love that our residents and visitors have for Denver’s dining scene,” said Richard Scharf, president & CEO of VISIT DENVER. “Every major city has a restaurant week, but it is amazing that Denver, the 20th largest market in the nation, has the country’s largest restaurant week,” Scharf said.

Denver Restaurant Week began in 2005 with the intention of stimulating local restaurant business, while making visitors and residents more aware of how much Denver’s dining scene had improved in recent years.

“We are particularly happy to see website visits increase 54 percent because one of the primary reasons we sponsor Denver Restaurant Week is to get people talking about restaurants. Each of the 8 million page views was someone looking at a restaurant menu and learning about what that restaurant has to offer,” Scharf said. He stated that all tourism marketing begins with local awareness. “When locals feel Denver excels in offering fine dining, it is much easier to market that message to out-of-towners, and that helps build Denver’s national reputation as an outstanding destination,” Scharf said.